Hello there
Still busy promoting European shops on Etsy this week as part of Euroweek. In this blog posting I will be covering a shop from Sweden that sells - Vintage Scandinavian http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageScandinavian
I am a painter (you can see my paintings in my other shop Eleuthera or on my website www.wix.com/mertymoo/sheilarobinsonart). I was born in London, studied Fine Art and have won several awards for my paintings including the Royal Institute of Oil painters Young Painter award. I also teach Art and Design part time at an international school, I love teaching and it gives me a good balance to the rather solitary time I spend painting and I love being able to work with teenagers from all over the world, who bring so many influences into the class.
The south of Sweden is an amazing place to live, wide open spaces, big skies and some stunning landscapes. Summer in Southern Sweden is just heaven. We have empty beaches, huge beech forests, clear lakes and abundant wildlife. It's beautiful, and very much undiscovered. We can drive over the stunning Oresund bridge and be in Copenhagen, Denmark in 40 minutes, and I can be back in London in less than 2 hours by plane. Skåne (the area we live in) has the modern bustling city of Malmö as well as beautiful old Lund, with it's stunning buildings from old bubble windowed cottages to the impressive cathedral.
Other places I love are the Louisiana art museum ( www.louisiana.dk/dk) just a short ferry crossing from the elegant Helsingborg, or you could visit Hamlet's castle in Helsingor...or maybe you prefer to hop to the gorgeous island of Venn, home to Tycho Brahe's observatory. There really is so much to do and see here.
The idea for vintage Scandinavian is pretty straightforward...I absolutely love Scandinavian design. I used to visit Denmark and spend happy days exploring vintage shops, junk shops and markets and when I moved to Sweden 3 years ago I kept finding things I HAD to buy. I have LOTS of excuses, I need something to paint after all!
Good design is everywhere here, and my favorite places to browse are the weekend market stalls where I look for pressed glass and interesting ceramics. Hand made and studio glass and ceramics are still flourishing here, and I love to go shopping in the many glass works in the Småland area. There are big names like Costa Boda but also small glass workshops where you can see amazing work and buy direct from the artists.So, it hasn't taken me long to have more than I need.
I love my home, and although I enjoy showing off my collections getting that Swedish style means celebrating a few perfect things in the perfect place, and something has to go. All of the items in VintageScandinavian are things I have bought for myself , and I have to argue with myself to list them! As for the paintings, well all summer I am out and about making the most of the landscapes, and all winter (and yes, they can be rather long) I am cosied up in the warm working on my still lives and shoe portraits.
I enjoy shopping on Etsy and I am thrilled about the European week. I think that one of the best things about Etsy is that it puts independent artists, artisans and craftspersons on an equal footing with larger concerns, it's great for me to have a global audience, I happily buy from shops all over the world and am happy to ship anywhere.
Thanks for being interested, or as we say here tack så mycket!
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